Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili appeared very emaciated during a hearing at the Tbilisi court, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accusing Moscow of wanting to kill him.
During this hearing by videoconference, images of which were broadcast by Georgian television, Mr. Saakashvili appeared with an emaciated face. Lifting his T-shirt, the 55-year-old ex-leader showed off his torso with exposed ribs and hollow stomach, according to the published images.
“An absolutely innocent man is kept in detention,” denounced Mr. Saakashvili, who is on trial for “abuse of power”, an accusation he rejects.
His doctors say Mr Saakashvili, a man who weighed 115 kilograms before his arrest, lost some 60 kilograms in prison and is suffering from heavy metal poisoning, anorexia and cachexia.
Mikheil Saakashvili, who led Georgia from 2004 to 2013, before going into exile for eight years abroad, was arrested on his return to the country in 2021. He is today the main figure of the opposition against to the current government.
After a 50-day hunger strike last year, he was hospitalized and his rare public appearances in court revealed a clear and visible deterioration in his health.
On Monday, despite his growing thinness, he displayed his combativeness in court. “Put me in jail will not break me. I will take an active part in Georgian politics,” he said.
The Georgian authorities claim that Mr Saakashvili is receiving all the medical treatment he needs in the prison hospital where he is still.
But several doctors who have examined Mr Saakashvili in recent months, including American specialists, have expressed concern about his deteriorating condition.
The Council of Europe had called last year for Mr. Saakashvili’s release and said it considered him a “political prisoner”.
The NGO Amnesty International described the treatment reserved for Mr. Saakashvili as “apparent political revenge”.
In Kiev, President Zelensky gave the Georgian ambassador 48 hours on Monday to return to Tbilisi and have consultations there on the fate of Mikheil Saakashvili, also a Ukrainian citizen, accusing Moscow of killing him.
“I asked the Foreign Ministry today to summon the Georgian Ambassador, notify him of our protest and ask him to leave Ukraine within 48 hours for consultations in his capital,” Zelensky wrote. on Telegram.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the Georgian ambassador was expected Tuesday morning at the ministry.
“Tomorrow morning the Georgian ambassador will be at the Foreign Ministry: we will have a difficult conversation with him. He will travel to Georgia,” Kuleba said on social media.
“The world could see today once again how the Kremlin – at the hands of the current Georgian government – is killing Ukrainian citizen Mikheil Sakashvili,” Zelensky added.
“Once again I call on the Georgian authorities to transfer Ukrainian citizen Mikheil Saakashvili to Ukraine to receive the necessary treatment and care,” added Volodymyr Zelensky.
“And I call on our (Western) partners to look into this situation and not ignore it, to save this man. No government in Europe has the right to execute people, life is a value fundamental European”.
03/07/2023 22:20:56 – Tbilisi (AFP) © 2023 AFP